


optical illusions

by gaytimetraveller



Category: Persona 2
Genre: ive been wanting to write this for so long aaaAAAA
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-11-03 19:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10973496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaytimetraveller/pseuds/gaytimetraveller
Summary: Snapshots of another possibility, where someone else had ended up Joker, and somehow things end up far more out of control.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ive been trying to write at least some of this for so long and I DID IT 
> 
> big shoutout to just all of my friends who came up with the ideas and content of this way way back its real good thank u all

Lisa was quickly getting sick of the illusions and cobbled together patchwork floors of a building that had probably once been Caracol. It was hard to tell, half the city had been something else and at this point the lines were beyond blurred. She was half sure it wasn’t dreams becoming reality, it was reality becoming dreams; it felt like the city had been pulled into a dream, under the thumb of one hell of a creative harlequin who didn’t seem to have the faintest that they were in it’s dream at all.

Footsteps echoed on cold floors, Lisa looked down and felt dizzied at the swirling patterns beneath her. She could’ve sworn the floor was shifting, it looked like it was shifting, yet her feet still remained steady. She took careful steps, braced for the moment where it would come out from underneath her, you could never know what to expect in a place like this. She froze as she thought she felt something shift under her foot, but then again, the whole city felt like that, like trying to stand on a raft in the ocean. It made Lisa feel a bit sick.

Everything had become so twisted, so beyond anything anyone could’ve imagined (except their Joker that was, Joker had imagined all of this). Everything felt like a dream, a foolish dream, the nonsensical kind that you could only shake your head at when you woke up.

As they all took a turn, Lisa thought she heard footsteps, mirroring her group’s own, stopping just after theirs. She wondered if there were reflections of them wandering around this place, lurking around a corner and waiting to jump out. Maybe it was some kind of time or reality bending trick, but that made her head hurt to think about. The whole damn city was a reality bending trick turned in on itself and into a goddamn pretzel, a snowball effect of rumours in the worst way imaginable. It made Lisa afraid to think, hell it made her afraid to fall asleep at night, because if she dreamed, she figured she could very well wake up in it, even if she knew this place wasn’t her dream, it was another’s.

Maya pushed open a door, and everyone wearily yet quickly leapt through as the hallway behind them seemed to fold up and the door slammed closed behind them. They’d stepped into a hall of mirrors and Lisa kept her eyes on the now checkerboard floor, she didn’t dare to look at what was reflected in those mirrors. This place got under her skin in the worst way. It made her feel like she was trapped in her head but it wasn’t her own thoughts and ideas and dreams and nightmares she was caught up in, it was someone else’s.

It all creeped her out.

She wanted to look behind them, at the door they’d come through, back through the hallway they’d just been in, to see if it had changed or of it had disappeared completely. She didn’t. The only way out was forward, and she felt the acute burning of eyes on her back. She didn’t want to find out if there were any really there. She’d been feeling watched ever since that Joker had suddenly appeared into her life; she meant it quite literally, Joker appeared out of thin air and Lisa had never seen it appear any other way, always at the most inconvenient of times, coming into existence with a _pop_ and a _crackle_ that made the room feel electric and her hair stand on end. The air in not-Caracol felt the same, it felt electric and Lisa could almost feel it buzzing around her. This place may have looked empty, but it was not. Lisa did not look in the mirrors, for she was sure they held the eyes she’d felt watching her all this time.

(The real fright was that she wasn’t sure if they were Joker’s eyes, Joker seemed to be oblivious to it all, off in a far-away dream or delusion with no sweet clue it had become reality. Lisa didn’t know how to feel about that and she didn’t know what it meant, for her or the city or anyone. If anything, it was concerning and she didn’t wish to think about it. She knew that she couldn’t punch away all her problems but she could damn well try; she just wanted out of this and back on the solid ground, where she could dig her feet and her hands and everything into the pliable earth until she was as far from the sky as she could be. She was sick of feeling like she was held in the air or afloat and bobbing in murky waves, it made her feel sick to her core in the most unsettling of ways.)

This place was a riddle, where everything was backwards and yesterday was tomorrow. Lisa felt so far out of her element and away from the ground, she felt high up in the air and she desperately wanted down.

Joker was a riddle too, and the city bended to Joker’s whims. It hadn’t at first, Joker had been no more than a rumour, but all the rumours seemed to feed back to Joker, only to make it stronger, and soon it had been not only rumours, but dreams, wishes, _thoughts_ , it’d all become a snowball effect feeding into Joker’s terrible power. _And Joker didn’t seem to have a clue_.

Joker danced around like a child having fun, and only spoke in riddles that seemed to hint that this only served to make the city better. Lisa had only recently realized Joker couldn’t at all see the truth, only the dreams, the rumours. Joker could see everyone’s hearts and minds, Lisa knew that, she’d found it out in the beginning, every rumour (and then dream, wish, thought) was seen and heard by the fool and the many eyes and ears she felt watching and listening, but that didn’t mean Joker could see the truth.

(Lisa didn’t think she could see the truth either, this grand illusion had to be a farce to cover up for something far deeper than she could think. This falsified dream wasn’t the truth, but neither was the normal reality of the city. Maybe the truth didn’t exist. Everything seemed far too contradictory at this point, nothing made sense, no pieces of the puzzle would fit together at all.)

Lisa wanted to collapse, to fall over in the hall of mirrors and pass out and wake up at home. She wished she could. But, of course, the only way out was forwards.

They still didn’t even know exactly who Joker _was_ , it was all another goddamn riddle, and every time they seemed to get close to figuring it out, another contradiction would rise and it would all fall apart again. Lisa felt like they were missing a vital piece, like there was something forgotten, maybe some _one_ she’d known, but she couldn’t remember if anyone she’d known had even disappeared. So many things had disappeared or changed on so many levels that Lisa was struggling to remember what the original reality of the city had been, if there was one.

Really, maybe there wasn’t a truth after all.

This time Eikichi was the one at the front when they turned a corner in the hall of mirrors, and the floor dropped down half a foot to find them in a new hall of neon signs with one of those brightly coloured carpet floors that looked like it belonged in a bowling alley or a mini golf place.

Lisa sighed and continued to keep her eyes to the floor, the signs were too bright and they seemed to flicker into things she didn’t want to see when she looked at them a little too long.

This place felt unsettlingly alive. The walls felt like they breathed, the floor felt like it pulsed, something behind the signs almost seemed to move but it was too dark to tell. Lisa didn’t like it at all.

She tried to think of how this had all happened, but her mind only came up halfway blank and halfway terribly muddled and bogged down by the confusion of what was original reality and what was fabrication. Her feet went on autopilot and she barely noticed when she walked right into Tatsuya’s side, which made both of them stop and Yukino nearly walked into both of them.

After that Jun said they should probably stop, to have a drink and maybe a snack at least. Everyone nodded, and Lisa frowned at the can of apple juice that Maya had tossed over, and she still couldn’t figure out who this Joker was.

She looked up at the signs and seen vaguely warped neon versions of half of the city’s signs for fast food places and supermarkets. They made her head hurt. She looked at the others, and it seemed Tatsuya was already drifting off. He almost dropped his open bottle of water, but Jun caught it before it fell. Eikichi gave a thumbs up. Yukino seemed to be working something out in her head, she was kind of frowning at the floor and vaguely mouthing something. She looked like some of Lisa’s friends in math class. Maya was digging in her bag, looking for something or other.

There’d been a strange absence of demons in not-Caracol. Even Lisa’s persona felt on edge, but she hadn’t said much, which only made Lisa feel worse.

Yukino seemed to figure something out and cracked open her can apple juice to start sipping it, and Lisa tried to figure out who they were going to have to go face off against, who’s dream they could be stuck in. Something was at the back of her mind, a vague twinkle of an idea, and she could hear Eros trying to scream hints of the truth but all she heard was muffled static.

Yukino put down her juice and looked over at Lisa. “Do you feel like there’s something watching us?”

Lisa nodded, almost a little reluctantly. Talking about it seemed to make it feel more real, less farfetched. “So much, almost like it’s been for a while? Since Joker’s been here,”

Yukino nodded back. “This is familiar,”

She didn’t explain any further. Lisa didn’t ask. Jun seemed to have been listening and nodded at both of them. “I’ve felt it too,”

“I think it’s doing more than watching,” Yukino said, and once again didn’t go any further.

Both Jun and Lisa nodded back. A solidarity of oh god, we’re most definitely not alone and it is most definitely not just Joker and it’s eyes they all already knew were watching in some way. These eyes felt the same, but different somehow, it was connected, but not entirely the same. It put her on edge more, they weren’t just seeing her dreams, but it felt like she was being legitimately _watched_. Lisa shivered, and the other two seemed to come to similar conclusions from the looks on their faces.

On the other hand, Tatsuya was certainly asleep, Eikichi was eating chips, Maya was still looking through her mom purse, seemingly oblivious, but Lisa didn’t doubt they felt it to some degree too.

Once again, Lisa’s mind drifted right back to the core of all of this, and she thought maybe Yukino had been thinking of answers too and meant to imply the muddle of contradicting memories and realities and dreams stopping her from remembering _something_ had something to do with that feeling of being watched. Or maybe Lisa was reaching, and she meant it had something to do with Joker, with this whole catastrophe, but Joker already had eyes on everyone, that they’d long figured out.

Lisa started to chug her apple juice and the taste reminded her of after school and fast food and vending machines with the girls. She wished things were still as simple as the Kasu vs Sevens rivalry, or Miyabi getting “kidnapped” when Tatsuya didn’t even need much incentive to join Eikichi’s band in the first place, or talks with Sheba and Meeho about becoming idols someday, even if she didn’t really really want to. She missed that. She missed it a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so this was gonna be, more, but i think this is enough for now there will eventually be, More
> 
> also just saying i cant believe my joke like last year about a random p2 character being joker turned into me realizing they'd likely be a frighteningly powerful yet clueless one and also led to just the best character design ive done just the absolute best its so cool itll be here eventually


	2. Chapter 2

Lisa walked out of Sumaru prison, legs shaking viciously, everything felt off balance, she felt sick. Everyone seemed to be a bit pale, they’d all felt it. That Joker, that rumour-granter Joker, it was real, it was magic, Lisa could feel her persona under her skin, telling her this was _wrong_. There was something fundamentally off about that Joker. It had felt familiar in a way, and it’s voice, or really many voices, like the voice of a nation, Lisa hadn’t expected it, it’d made her jump, it’d sent a chill up her spine. It’s voice sounded like when children in school recited things, like anthems or whatever it was children recited. Lisa couldn’t remember.

She’d expected it to have a voice like ringing bells, it looked like something that would speak more like a song than words, it almost reminded her of a songbird, it moved quickly and strangely, clad in bright colours.

Eikichi clapped a hand on her shoulder, and Lisa felt her legs shake even further.

“Are you okay?” Eikichi said, soft.

“I…I guess?”

Eikichi nodded, and turned towards Tatsuya and Jun. “Jun is, pretty shaken, we gotta look out for each other, y’know?”

On her other side, Miyabi gently patted Lisa’s arm.

Lisa followed Eikichi’s gaze, where Jun was shaking heavily, with Tatsuya’s arm gently around his shoulder. Lisa wanted to go over and comfort him, but she didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t quite trust her legs yet.

They got back to Kasu, and Lisa shakily sat down on the front steps. Miyabi sat down vaguely next to her. Eikichi straight up lied down on the ground. Tatsuya sighed. Jun sounded like he was about to cry. There were a lot of unspoken questions hanging over everyone’s heads, but no one wanted to open their mouths and speak.

The click of heels on hard stone made Lisa look up, to see a familiar reporter walking up to the school. She sighed and closed her eyes.

 

* * *

  

Lisa spared a glance at another funhouse mirror, and this time she saw a mime. It glared at her, it’s eyes were hollow, angry. She quickly turned her head and closed her eyes. No one else seemed to have seen. She put her hands over her eyes.

When she peeked out from behind her hands, this time, she saw a harlequin. It was gaudy, it was cold. It’s painted face had a freezing fury that sent a pang of fear through her. It felt even more wrong than the Joker she was here in the funhouse to deal with. It felt like a desecration of something, and unlike Joker it didn’t make her sick to look at, it made her feel like she’d just been rejected, it made her afraid. The harlequin felt like if those closest to her had betrayed her, like they’d kicked her out and told her she was worthless. It was hard to look away from.

She looked up, and there was a mirror on the ceiling. Her own reflection stared back at her. She didn’t quite feel relieved.

Lisa decided she most definitely did not like the funhouse at all.

 

* * *

 

The first time Yukino saw Joker, she was surprised, but maybe not so much as everyone else. Joker didn’t even look her way, and Yukino knew this wasn’t her problem or her story, not really, this was connected to someone else and she wasn’t so connected to the supernatural goings-on of Sumaru City. She was more of a knowledgeable outsider looking in, and she was aware of that. She would help, but from what she’d heard everyone else was a lot more tangled up in this than her.

Joker began to speak about rumours and Yukino could only cross her arms and think _here we go again_.

A moment later she could’ve sworn the eye on the back of one of Joker’s gloves winked at her.

 

* * *

 

The first time Jun saw Joker, he was struck by a pang of anxiety, and he knew that’s what he could’ve been. If Jun and everyone else hadn’t somehow stumbled and tumbled their way to his salvation earlier than maybe was planned, but nonetheless just in time, he’d be just where that other poor fool was. His hands shook at the thought of the first and last time he’d tried his Joker mask on, and he wondered if this new Joker felt the same, or if they were under an illusion as much as they looked like one.

Joker began to speak and Jun felt sick, and he felt pity.

 

* * *

  

Finally, Lisa looked at the mirror in the funhouse, expecting some twisted, terrible version of herself. Instead she was staring at the image of a gaunt woman, with blonde hair pulled back in a strict bun, her outfit a washed out mockery of a school uniform. Her face was covered in smudged paint, and there was a baseball bat with nails pushed through it in her hands. Her fingers were roughly wrapped in bloody bandages. Lisa nearly screeched and then punched the mirror just as the other woman hefted up her baseball bat and started to swing.

It shattered.

 

* * *

 

Yukino sighed as she melted into the booth at Peace Diner. “Can we go somewhere else next time, I’m getting kinda sick of milkshakes,”

“We can afford burgers or ramen, and no one wanted ramen,” Lisa groaned.

“We should have ramen next time,” Maya said, trying her best to be cheerful.

“We could go to Jolly Roger or something,” Tatsuya said, but everyone only half heard him.

Yukino lay her head down on the table, exhausted. Eikichi and Lisa started doing rock paper scissors to see who would have to get up to order. Eikichi lost and then kicked Lisa out of the booth. They started yelling, but Yukino didn’t bother trying to process whatever the hell they were saying. Probably the usual shit.

Maya started chatting with Tatsuya, they were quiet, Yukino was thankful. Peace Diner was full of chatter, she was starting to get a headache. Eventually, Lisa came back with burgers and milkshakes. She kicked Eikichi and Eikichi yelled.

Yukino sat back up and asked Maya if they could stop at a Satomi’s on the way home.

 

* * *

 

The first time Lisa saw Joker, she was unsettled. Joker looked like an optical illusion, holding a cartoonish mask in front of it’s face, which Lisa would later come to know was also all prettily painted up. It wasn’t exactly the mask that got Lisa, it was the unsettlingly real looking eye on the back of it’s glove, or the shifting patterns on it’s brightly coloured suit, it gave her a headache and felt heavily unsettling.

Joker opened it’s mouth and began to speak, and Lisa wanted to cover her ears. Something about the way Joker spoke was familiar despite it’s voice being not one but many, but Lisa was far too distracted by the swirling patterns that made her feel a bit dizzy.

 

* * *

 

When Jun looked in the mirrors at the funhouse, at first he saw himself. He may not have liked it, but it wasn’t anything directly disturbing.

When he looked back again, he saw himself. And just himself. No one else, just him alone. He reached out for Maya’s arm, tried to feel the pressure of Tatsuya’s head on his shoulder as best he could, he couldn’t look away from his reflection, his arm reaching out into nothing. He sighed in relief when his hand gently hit Maya’s arm. Slowly, he closed his eyes.

The next time he opened his eyes, he saw his own grinning Joker mask staring back.

He was quick to hide his face.

Jun thought about how when Lisa talked about Joker it wasn’t they, but it, and he thought about how easily he could’ve been that, he could’ve been it. He’d only barely escaped, and now more than ever it was obvious they were far from the end of all this. He didn’t know if he’d really escaped at all, if any of them had escaped, the wheel of fortune just kept on turning and it seemed to have it’s own agenda. He started to shake again.

Maya gently touched his arm, and he reached out to tightly grip hers.

 

* * *

  

Many eyes, so many eyes, all moving, _looking_ , glaring bright and unblinking. They shut one final time, and faded. Joker fell from the air. Everyone gasped. Someone screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ackk this is structured so differently from the first one but i guess, this is smth i really wanted to tell out of order and i at least wanted some kind of coherent setup so, yeah,


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more snippets Yet Again there were more of these i wrote for this chapter but i think im gonna take some out to save them for later this ones a bit, less themed imo ? just some, fun info times

Things were getting hectic, and on the way to the detective agency Yukino was hoping Tamaki was still around there. The sidewalk was nearly unbearably hot, the idea of getting into a building with air conditioning was absolutely lovely. The street was nearly empty too, maybe on account of the heat, maybe on account of whatever the hell was going on. Everyone blinked at the glare of the sun, it seemed brighter than usual.

“Hey! Tatsuya! Hey!” Tatsuya whipped around to see Anna viciously hobbling up the sidewalk on one crutch. There’d been a rumour she’d hurt one of her legs again, something about a broken foot, or an ankle, no one had seen her recently enough to see if it was true.

Tatsuya stopped, waiting, and everyone else slowed to a stop as well. He tilted his head to the side a little, questioning, as she did her best to catch up.

“I’ve been looking for you, I’ve been all over town,” Anna stopped for a moment, trying to catch her breath.

“What happened to your foot?” Lisa said, motioning to her crutch.

“Oh, uh, it just kinda ended up like that. Anyways, have you seen Noriko?”

“Noriko?” Tatsuya echoed. “I don’t think?”

Anna sighed and leaned against her crutch. Exhaustion seemed to seep from her. “Jesus christ. I’ve been everywhere today, and yesterday, and the day before. I haven’t seen her at all, I’m not sure how long it’s been, I haven’t really been keeping track,”

“It’s been hard to keep track of anything recently,” Lisa sighed. Tatsuya and Anna both nodded.

“I’ll let you know if I see her,” Tatsuya sighed. There was something fruitless to all this, everything could be different yet again tomorrow or the next day.

“Thanks, I’ll keep looking,” Anna rolled her shoulders, getting ready to go again. “This Joker shit is getting to be too much for me,”

Everyone nodded, and the unspoken truth that Anna had been in the cult last week, or at some point around there, before it’d all shifted again; that hung heavy in the air, it only made the humidity feel that much more suffocating.

No one said anything, but Anna still hadn’t left, like she could sense questions and concerns caught in the backs of throats. Jun nervously checked his watch, and couldn’t stop himself from opening his mouth, “Do you have any idea who Joker is?”

Anna glanced away and shrugged. “I’ve got no fucking clue,”

Jun sighed, he’d never expected any better of an answer.

 

* * *

 

When Maya looked in the mirrors in the funhouse, she saw nothing at all. Maybe that was the scary part, the inevitability of her eventually ceasing to exist. She’d never really thought about not existing, or dying, as a big fear of hers, but looking in the mirror and seeing only the cold wall behind her and Jun next to her. Cold and alone.

Maya could only stare into it, she didn’t want to look away, didn’t want to fall asleep in a place like this. She could only stare at the mirror and the reality lacking her within it.

She felt like she was seeing a truth she shouldn’t have to, one that shouldn’t apply, that had no right to.

_Worse than dead, forgotten._

 

* * *

 

Eikichi didn’t look in the mirrors, after watching everyone else flinch away from whatever their reflections held, Eikichi was more than satisfied with a pocket mirror, that was good enough to check for makeup smudges.

Eikichi didn’t want to see whatever awaited on the other side of those mirrors. This funhouse was a nightmare.

 

* * *

 

The next time Maya glanced in the mirror, it was only quick, she jumped a little to look away even. She saw only gold and blood. She didn’t want to know whose it was.

 

* * *

 

Walking up the steps to what had been and in some ways still was Caracol, someone stood at the top of the steps, waiting for them. She had a mask, one with the emblem of scorpio. That wasn’t a mark of this Joker, simply a leftover of the half formed plans of the last. Jun recognized it and shuddered.

She watched the party walk up the steps, the only sound was the click of shoes on crumbling stone, the scorpio was silent. She was shorter, in the long black coat that was the trademark of another cult that had never come to fruition. She had an axe in her hands, a gun on her hip.

Lisa was the first one to step up to the top few steps. The scorpio raised her axe. Lisa froze.

Everyone slowly spread out behind her, and she raised her fists. She flew up the last few steps, dodged the hit swung towards her, and swung as hard as she could, only to hit thin air and tumble to the floor. Maya yelled something, and a torrent of water spilled down the steps.

Lisa watched as Yukino was almost washed away. That looked like a perilous fate, washed down all those steps. It didn’t bode well for any of them. Lucky for Yukino that she could somehow withstand a wave like that coming towards her, Lisa aspired to be that tough. The water stopped, everyone was quick to move, not knowing where or if the next blast would come. Lisa looked away from the scene on the steps, and towards the masked girl, axe still held up in the air.

The scorpio turned towards her and grabbed at the gun at her waist.

Lisa scrambled to her feet and got ready to dodge.

 

* * *

 

Yukino couldn’t stop thinking about how Joker had winked at her, the first time. It unsettled her to her core, even if she wasn’t sure it had happened. It felt like she’d encountered something beyond horrible and vaguely familiar. She didn’t want to encounter it again.

 

* * *

 

Lisa stood up to stretch, still in the confines of the funhouse. Yukino was suggesting they pitch a tent, they had the supplies. Lisa didn’t like the idea of sleeping in a place like this, the idea of dreaming somewhere that seemed so much like a nightmare didn’t seem like a good one. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, but everyone was absolutely exhausted, they must’ve been sitting there for near an hour and still no one would volunteer to get up and start them going.

She stretched her arms over her head, opened her eyes to look in the mirror as much as she didn’t want to. It was the gaunt, blonde woman again. This time, she did nothing, only stare back. Lisa let herself look, as much as she may not have wanted to, it was strangely captivating.

The woman had dark circles under her eyes, they stuck out even under what must’ve been caked on white makeup. She was scowling. Her outfit was almost like a washed out pink school uniform. Her whole theme seemed to be broken hearts, they were all over her ripped tights, there was even one where an emblem should’ve been on her uniform.

She still had the bloody bandaged knuckles and baseball bat. She still scared Lisa. She worried the woman would come through the mirror somehow, for her, she knew she would only go after her somehow. She hoped it wasn’t possible but there was no way to really assure herself of that at all, not in a place like this.

Lisa closed her eyes and sat back down to face the shattered mirror. That was easier.

 

* * *

 

Walking home a little bit too late at night, the sky looked starless from the alley between shops. A door embedded into a brick wall seemed to fade as the shadows on the ground almost darkened. Everything but silhouettes was starting to become lost in the darkness, people turning into indeterminate people-shaped shadows. Footsteps echoed, someone who shouldn’t have been out, but wasn’t quite feeling that twisted gut dread of being out in the dark alone and absolutely too late.

They didn’t even notice when a figure melted out of the dark, just into their line of sight. They didn’t question it, still no feeling of dread, no reason to be wary yet, and their intuition was usually better than most. Even the figure’s burning charcoal eyes didn’t set anything off, they felt like they were missing something but they couldn’t grasp it. The only following thought was that nothing was out of the ordinary. They didn’t know why they’d thought of it but there was no reason to question (was there?).

The figure smiled, it beckoned. All anyone would ever see was two silhouettes in an alley, one stepping forward without a second thought.

It offered a trump card. They accepted without hesitation.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive had half this chapter written since the last one lm ao and theres still some bits i didnt put in this one because honestly i dunno where they'd fit so i guess, next chapter

Only hours after encountering Joker, sat around a table at the park, it’d been Miyabi who suggested trying the rumourmongers for information. Maya was quick to draw up a list of names from Miyabi, who then volunteered to come with them, even if just for a few. Something about the school paper and talking to Chikalin, she wanted an article about Joker?

Lisa shrugged and then wondered about this underground part of Sumaru she’d never known about. She wondered if it’d always existed and she’d just always been blind to it.

 

* * *

 

The detective agency held no answers, even Tamaki, but being there felt better than outside. Yukino idly chatted with Tamaki while Maya listened in, Eikichi and Lisa sat in front of the air conditioning, Tatsuya and Jun quietly debated rumours back and forth. It didn’t exactly seem worthwhile to try and make a few small rumours come true when reality was spinning so out of control, it was a bit fruitless. Still, it was something to do.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before…not really, not this bad. This is just, out of control.”

Yukino sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She felt like she’d sighed a thousand times in the last hour. It was exhausting. “I know…I’m half considering getting Maki to track down Naoya from wherever the hell he’s been to see if he could puzzle out anything. He always has weird insights, maybe he could piece some of this together,”

“Maybe, but who knows if it would actually help much, with how things are. I have people I could call too but, even if they could fight I don’t think it would help this time,”

Both of them slouched into one of the detective agency’s couches, not defeated, but tired.

Yukino turned to Tamaki and dropped her voice to barely above a whisper. “I wish we didn’t have to do this again. I wish _they_ didn’t have to do this for the first time.” Tamaki nodded, glancing around at the kids around the office.

“It shouldn’t have to happen, not to them, not to us. If anything I’d do it all again if it meant to spare the rest of you,”

“I wish I could,”

“Maybe we shouldn’t, next thing we know it’ll come true; I’ll be in hell and you’ll be in high school,”

Lisa overheard that last part and snorted from over by the air conditioning. “Aren’t they the same place?” she said. Eikichi started cackling from next to her.

Tamaki smiled a little and shook her head, it was almost regretful. “You have no idea, and you don’t want to find out,”

 

* * *

 

Yukino put another check on the rumourmonger list Maya had drawn up as they walked into Peace Diner. She smiled as she watched who she could only assume to be Chikalin bounce up to Miyabi, smiling and waving.

“Hey hey hey! Fancy seeing you all here! What’s up?”

Miyabi put a hand up and Chika was quick to high five. Lisa stepped forward and Chikalin put an arm up for a high five from her too. Lisa smiled and did it. “We’re here for a rumour, have you heard anything about Joker?”

Chikalin put a finger on her chin and tilted her head. “Yep! Everyone’s heard about Joker, but everything’s all weird an’ contradictory, no one’s got anything solid,”

Both Miyabi and Lisa sighed, the same thing they’d just heard from the other rumourmongers. “Any idea who it might be?”

“No clue,” Chikalin scrunched up her face, “I wish someone knew, that’d be a sweet scoop for the paper,”

“If things keep happening like this you’ll probably have an article on it either way,” Lisa shrugged. Miyabi nodded.

“Yeah, we can run something! Can you get pictures?”

“I’ll see what I can get! I’ve got to get my camera! I haven’t met Joker, I don’t think any rumourmonger has, but I’ll find something!” Chikalin winked and Miyabi started laughing.

“Don’t put yourself in any danger,” Lisa said, more serious. Chika only laughed.

“I won’t, I won’t! I swear!”

“Be careful! I mean it!”

Yukino smiled as they walked out of Peace Diner, Chika and Miyabi looked like they got along more than well, it was fun just watching them. Maya turned towards her and leaned over to look at the list. “Who’s next?”

Yukino rolled her eyes, “Rumourmonger Toro, down at that sushi place, the one Eikichi’s family owns,”

 

* * *

 

Lisa didn’t like any of this one bit. Not one bit at all. Anna had come up to her again, this had been the third time now, asked if she’d seen Noriko. She’d actually had to think for a moment to remember Noriko’s face. She really didn’t like this. (Who would she forget next?)

 

* * *

 

Toro had nothing, the website down at Double Slash had nothing and not even Eriko was around there, Toku had nothing. The detective agency was their next stop.

They didn’t have any rumours they could even ask the agency for. Yukino went off to have a chat with Tamaki, but she had nothing as well.

The whole city didn’t seem to have a clue about Joker. Yukino sighed as she checked the rest of the names off of the list.

 

* * *

 

The trump card pulled on their gloves, a now everyday occurrence, and smiled wide into the mirror, face already made up. They grinned ear to ear, snapped their fingers, and they were gone.

 

* * *

 

Lisa didn’t especially want to sleep, but she didn’t have much choice. Once she lay down in the tent, it wasn’t long before her eyelids started to get heavy. This place was utterly exhausting, both to navigate and to even look at. She couldn’t even tell how long they’d been there.

The last thing she saw before passing out was Yukino sitting against the wall of the tent, pensively fiddling with a watch and compass. Lisa thought it was odd that Yukino suggest they pitch a tent and then not even sleep.

 

* * *

  

Yukino frowned at what remained of Maya’s rumourmonger list. Ever since things with Joker had started actually happening, rumourmongers had been falling off the map. It seemed like Joker didn’t want anyone interfering with any of the rumours at all, although strangely enough the detective agency remained untouched.

The first to go had been Toro, no one was sure if he’d ran off out of town, or if he’d actually disappeared. No one had seen him in what was likely weeks.

The second had been Chikalin. She’d dropped right off the map, almost like Noriko did. Everyone could only assume she’d gone too far in trying to find out something, she’d probably ended up in the cult somewhere. It hadn’t happened long after Toro.

The third, or possibly the second, was the website at Double Slash. No one was exactly sure when it’d stopped responding, it wasn’t one they checked overly often. There was no clue on what had happened there, likely whatever had happened to the rest.

The fourth was Toku, who had disappeared as quickly and as plainly as the rest of them.

The only one left was Sumaru Genie, who like the detective agency, had remained untouched this whole time. Maya said she thought it might be because of the fortunes she told, maybe she really was in touch with some kind of supernatural forces that kept Joker away from her, or perhaps Joker had simply never known.

It was easy to figure out why the detective agency had been left alone. Trying to fuck over not one, but two devil summoners in the same building, along with the nekomata they kept around, it just wasn’t a very good idea. Yukino was fairly sure Tamaki kept a sword under one of the couches. Trying to fight them wouldn’t have been at good idea at all.

 

* * *

  

Lisa quickly rolled out of the way, dodging another axe blow from the scorpio. Eikichi was on her other side, trying to get a hit in without hitting Lisa. She tried to get back up on her feet, only to have to fall backwards to dodge another hit. Eikichi managed to get in a hit by swinging the guitar case.

Lisa could feel her stomach dropped as the scorpio whipped around and threw up an arm. Strangely, the girl was in the same kind of gloves Joker had been, the ones with eyes on the back, although these ones didn’t seem as alive.

 _“Persona!”_ she screeched, and the voice sounded familiar. Lisa mouthed a name, not the girl’s name but the persona’s. She wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she could tell all the same. She flinched as she watched Eikichi get hit with a wave, not washed down the steps but washed away all the same.

She got on her feet and started to run when the scorpio turned towards her.

 

* * *

  

No one seemed to notice when a certain someone uncharacteristically started wearing gloves.

 

* * *

 

Jun watched with a frown as Eikichi wiped back tears and asked Maya to put the scorpio mask in her bag. Maya nodded as she securely put it away. She patted Eikichi on the shoulder, murmuring reassurances. They opened the doors to Caracol and Jun felt sick to know at least part of this had been his fault.

 

* * *

 

Tatsuya was too busy sleeping in the funhouse to bother looking in any mirrors. A nap was sorely needed, and the only way he woke up was when Jun jostled him awake, told him they were setting up a tent, and then told him not to look. He was curious, but if it’d been important enough for Jun to tell him, he figured he might as well not. He seemed pretty shaken, as did Maya, even if they did their best to hide it.

Not long later, sitting side by side with Jun in Yukino’s old camping tent, Tatsuya wrapped an arm around him.

“I can’t sleep, not after that,” Jun murmured, watching mostly everyone else sleep. “I know I’ll have nightmares, I don’t want to,”

“I’ll stay up with you,”

“You don’t have to, I know you’re tired,”

“I already slept, I’ll stay up,”

“Thank you,”

 

* * *

 

Getting ready to pack up for Caracol, Yukino happened to pull the rumourmonger list out of her pocket. It fell onto the floor of Maya and Ulala’s apartment. Maya picked it up, glanced at it, and put an eyebrow up. “Hey, Yukki, what’s this?”

“Oh that’s the,” Yukino paused, staring at Maya’s face. It was the rumourmonger list, shouldn’t Maya know that? “Didn’t you write it?”

“It looks like my writing? I don’t remember it though, I don’t even recognize some of these names,” Maya shrugged and crumpled up the paper.

Yukino stared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not entirely sure how i feel about this one because i put in something i wasnt going to put in but i realized if i left that thing missing knowing me and my brand itd be, a bit odd if it wasnt there i guess? so its there and im not quite sure how i feel bc the idea of leaving something out of this whole thing is good but also having it in is good so yeah
> 
> (also i just realized ulala has not made even one appearance in this and what the hell that wasnt intentional)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im, in a car on a roadtrip rn but im hellbent to get this up woohoo

Tatsuya managed to glance in a mirror, while everyone else slept. All he saw was himself, for a moment at least.  
  
It wasn’t long before he turned away. He could still hear that false reflection laughing. He put his hands over his ears and didn’t look back.

 

* * *

 

After everyone was up and they’d packed up the tent, everyone was more than ready to get out of the funhouse. Maya led the way, as sure in her steps as she could be. As they continued, the hallway got more and more narrow. Maya announced a door, stepped forward to turn the door knob.  
  
Before she could even turn it, the floor fell out from underneath them.  
  
What must’ve been minutes later, Lisa sat up and opened her eyes in what looked like, outside in Sumaru? She turned around, and she was alone.  
  
Lisa stood up and brushed off dirt, she’d landed right in the middle of a road, just by the abandoned factory. But it wasn’t, it couldn’t be. There was no way they’d all just, been dumped out of there like that. It all seemed awfully fake, a real dirty trick.  
  
She shrugged and started towards the factory. When she was close enough, she gingerly reached out a hand to touch it, and it was, there, in some manner. It was at least solid to touch, not a mirage. It was, strange that things seemed so much the same as the real Sumaru in what Lisa could only assume was a fake.  
  
Now, on the other hand, the inside of the factory was a whole different ball game. It was more of that labyrinth shit Joker seemed to like having around so much. _Great_. Lisa went right back outside, not wanting to deal with that shit in the slightest.  
  
Instead, she walked down the street, and everything looked completely empty, an odd kind of abandoned. Somewhere behind her there was an odd kind of grinding sound, which she figured must be from somewhere in the factory. She wondered where everyone else had ended up, if they were all in the town or somewhere completely different. The grinding started getting louder, but when Lisa looked over her shoulder there was only the empty road.  
  
When footsteps thudded on pavement, Lisa whirled right around.  
  
It was the blonde woman who’d been in the mirror.  
  
She had quite the presence in person. She heaved up her baseball bat off the ground, the nails pushed through it looked wickedly sharp. It sent a chill through her.  
  
Lisa took off running, but not the other way. She flew past the woman and right back towards the factory.  
  
She pulled open and slammed the front doors behind her with a screech, and she could hear the footsteps behind her, the baseball bat hitting against the door, nails pushing through. She bolted, right into the labyrinth.  
  
After frantically turning a few winding corners, Lisa did find the door for the first room of the factory, usually familiar territory.  
  
When she threw open the door, something else came at her. Lisa cursed and tumbled back, trying to avoid quick fists. She rolled away, scrambled up, and dashed into the room, tried her best to slam the door behind her, and kept on running. She went right up a flight of stairs, trying to get a good look at whatever the hell was behind her, and slammed right into Eikichi, sending them both toppled in a pile. Eikichi squawked, and Lisa tried her best to jump back up on her feet and look over the railing. Eikichi fumbled to join her.  
  
The two of them looked down, and there was someone down on the factory floor (a girl?), facing away in some kind of navy and white outfit, much like the one they’d ran into outside; the scorpio. Lisa winced at the thought of that, hoped she was okay after the number they’d ended up doing on her, and that she was back to her senses.  
  
She turned to face them, head quickly turning up to look up at the railing. She had ribbons wrapped around her fists, hair pulled back. She stared for a moment, then glanced at the stairs. In the blink of an eye she was going up the stairs, she was fast. Lisa and Eikichi both jumped and ran.  
  
On an impulse, or really more survival instinct considering how fast the girl was catching up, Lisa jumped over the railing and landed roughly on the floor. Almost surprisingly, Eikichi followed, wincing at the landing. Both of them looked up towards the girl, who was looking over the railing, head tilted to the side.  
  
Something in the hall made a noise, and Lisa remembered the cold blonde woman. She didn’t even think before she started running across the room, as far from the door as she could get. She didn’t bother looking to see if Eikichi followed, but she did hear the thump of the other girl jumping from the railing.  
  
Lisa hit a wall and bounced right off to turn and run again. The noise in the hall was getting louder, the clanging of running on metal and concrete. The other girl looked to be zigzagging around the room, lightning fast. She didn’t see Eikichi.  
  
_Fuck._

 

* * *

 

Anna had dreams that she found Noriko, to wherever she’d been. She always ran after her, but her legs faltered every time. Noriko never turned to face her.  
  
Sometimes she dreamed she was back in that cult. She’d only fallen out of it when someone had spread the wrong rumour, granted the wrong truth, and she’d gotten the boot without Joker noticing or batting an eye.  
  
Really, it’d been less of getting the boot and more of waking up at home with nearly no evidence she’d been involved left. Just her own memories, and the gloves.  
  
She’d been an executive, she’d had the gloves everyone sported, although hers were nicer than most, she had been a high-ish up after all (as high as one could get in Joker’s strange structure). Just thinking about it she would grimace at the eyes on the backs. Anna had never liked that.  
  
Strangely enough they didn’t share the mouths on the palms the ones Joker wore had. Anna was unfortunately familiar with that bit. She’d nearly been scared out of her own skin once when Joker had soundlessly appeared behind her and flashed a hand in front of Anna’s face, and the mouth on the glove had just opened up and started talking to her in that awfully ear piercing voice. It was hard to think about how it’d sounded.  
  
Even after some time, those gloves were still lying at the bottom of her school bag somewhere. She didn’t want to touch them, whether out of superstition or legitimate fear she wasn’t sure. She kept them in the bottom of the bag, so that she wouldn’t pick them out by accident, just in case.  
  
Anna had always had a strange feeling that those eyes were watching.

 

* * *

 

The last time Lisa had seen Chikalin, it was alone in Peace Diner, just around twilight. Lisa had been her way back from a day of training in the factory, Chikalin was in a booth at Peace Diner with a milkshake, and Lisa didn’t think twice about sitting down across from her to ask about rumours.  
  
Chika was sitting with her head on the table, fingers tapping near frantically against it too. Lisa shrugged and set her own tray of fries down.  
  
“Hey? Chikalin? Have you heard any rumours recently? Or found anything out about Joker?”  
  
She immediately bolted upright, one hand wiping something off her cheek, the other still tapping. “Lisa? I wasn’t expecting you! I thought it’d be Kozy coming back to ask about that!” her voice sounded a bit strained. Lisa supposed everything going on was even getting to her. “And nope! Haven’t found, anything…” Chika’s voice trailed off. She frowned and stared at the table.  
  
Lisa shrugged and threw a fry into her mouth. She might not have known much about Chikalin, it was more of a vague knowledge from hanging around Eikichi (and therefore Hanakouji) for a while, but she seemed off. “It’s alright, we’ll find something eventually,”  
  
Chika shrugged and sipped her milkshake, she didn’t seem quite alright, but Lisa figured pushing on this likely wouldn’t get anywhere. “Have you heard any good rumours Lisa?” she asked. There was something odd to her tone. Lisa knew this whole Joker business had shaken up the rumour scene quite a lot, one of the rumourmongers had even supposedly gone missing the day before. Poor Chikalin seemed a bit manic to either get back to work or get out of it. That must’ve been it, why she was off.  
  
“Nah, I haven’t heard any rumours really, so no good ones,”  
  
“Aw man, that sucks,” Chikalin sighed and stretched her arms above her head. “Let me know if you hear anything!”  
  
“Yeah, of course! And let me know if you hear anything about Joker,”  
  
Chikalin grinned behind a hand. “Yep!”  
  
Lisa picked up the rest of her fries, said she had to get going before it started getting dark. The sound of Chika’s fingers tapping against the table followed her until the door shut behind her.  
  
Somehow, she felt a little relieved and a little more worried walking out of the diner. That had felt weird.  
  
Everything had been weird recently, but that had been a slightly different kind of weird, whether it was because she didn’t expect it or there was something to be actually concerned about, something had unsettled Lisa a bit.  
  
It was weird.

 

* * *

 

Tatsuya hadn’t meant to look in the mirror again. This time it wasn’t that terrible, mocking version of himself, the one with eyes like burning charcoal and a cruel smile. That had made him shudder, it stayed with him, he couldn’t bring himself to go to sleep again. He felt like he could feel the shadows on the floor creeping up to him every time he so much as blinked. Something he hadn’t seen before, didn’t want to see again, but a gut feeling told him he would have to, somehow, someday. It was a truth he didn’t want, one that might not have belonged, but it forced it’s way through all the same.  
  
This time it was a dark mask, a smiling one. He only saw it for a moment before looking away again. He understood how everyone else felt so bad, even thinking of that reflection made something inside him twist and recoil.  
  
He blinked and rubbed his eyes at the sight of a shadow on the floor he could’ve sworn was crawling it’s way towards him. His eyes were starting to get sore, even in the relative darkness of the tent. This was getting exhausting. He pulled his arm tighter around Jun’s shoulders.  
  
Tatsuya closed his eyes, but he did not sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

The executives had been reporting back interesting things recently. Joker mulled over what they’d said, things about rumours Joker had never heard tell of running amok. The longer they thought, they had a slow realization.  
  
.  
  
..  
  
…  
  
Joker had been played at their own game.

 


End file.
